At the moment, the most convincing sounding background is that he was built by a Red Wizard as a warrior to protect him, but by some means the wizard died and left the warforged who, eventually somehow, became a conscious, thinking, creature.
It's weak, I know, which I why I decided to post here and look for help. So any help that you guys can offer would be much appreciated.
A recent Dragon article noted that warforged are not a "race" in Forgotten Realms, and are mostly unknown, so each player has the onus of creating their own background (within limits imposed by the DM of course.) As long as you come up with a decent idea on how you were created and how you achieved "life" (this can be the same process or separate,) then you should be okay.
My own LFR warforged was part of an experiment in Aglarond to create soldiers to fight the undead in the war against Thay expansion. It ended up being too expensive a process to continue, but the ones that were created excelled in their job. After three decades of fighting, losing all of his "brothers", and becoming a devotee of Kelemvor, his superiors gave him his freedom and recognized him (at least in Aglarond) as a living creature.
Perhaps the Red Wizard gave him the command to protect him or, failing that, to kill whoever it was that slayed his creator. So, upon finding his Red Wizard master dead, he sets off to find the killer so that he can kill them and then be truly free?
One day (for some reason) he awakens within the ruins of an old tower, vines and moss have started to grow out of the stone and wood of his still body and his metal has tarnished to a brassy brown color. He wanders the woods and begins to identify himself as a beast the more he encounters them. At some point he saves a young girl from a pack of wolves, he feel some part of him has to protect her. The girl takes the gentle giant bact to her home where her family is alarmed at first but comes to accept him and teachs him to speak. At some point he goes out looking to find his purpose in the world.
At the moment, it seems like this character was made by a Red Wizard, likely for sinister purposes or for revenge against fellow Red Wizard. However, after he finished his creation he died, probably through the machinations of the very person he was meaning to kill. After many years, and the Red Wizard's sanctum has fallen into ruin and disrepair, the Warforged awakens, becoming sentient?
The warforged may not have to feed himself but he does need to hunt or gather food for his pack or herd. Protecting his beast family, and proving himself to his beast family would have helped him build some character.
dire wolves would be a cool choice, they're smarter than Tarzan's apes so they could teach the warforged about community, tactics, nature and whatever else something with a 5 int would be in the know about. or kick it up a notch and make em winter wolves.
Or maybe an old Treant is the one that awakens him, teaches him elven, tells him to protect the forest and to serve all the creatures within it, the treant dies. the warforged goes on to become Tarzan protector of the forest. or kick it up a notch and make it a Aboleth(just kidding).
Also, can I find this article on D&D Insider, ElJeffeX?
Yep.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20090116
if you view them that way, a warforged barbarian could hail from ruined Lantan
-More ideas can be found in THIS thread and in THISthread.
I'm not sure why it was moved here.
-It's looking for Realmslore concerning the presence of Warforged in the Forgotten Realms. The Realmslore section is where such queries belong.
I don't mean to be defensive but I've noticed there are a number of people, not just on the boards, that really, really, don't like Warforged in FR.
-Because, honestly, as is, they belong to Eberron, not the Forgotten Realms. I'm sure there'd be similar expressed/subtle anger if Kender were introduced to the Forgotten Realms as Warforged have (or, rather, haven't), Draconians introduced to Eberron, Jedi introduced to Planescape, Skrull to Dark Sun, and so on. It's nothing specific against Warforged, I don't think, but it's what happens when water is mixed with oil, or however that saying goes. They're both liquids (they're both D&D settings) that can be held in containers (that have similarities), but they don't mix (those similarities exist to a point).
Most of the people that object never liked Eberron or the concept of warforged to begin with. Frankly, I'm of the "you got your chocolate in my peanut butter" mentality and find the new flavor to be great.
Warforged are in the Realms. Draconians might as well be dragonborn and are a core race now, so I'm sure you'll see them in Eberron. Halflings feel more like Kender now than they do hobbits, so that's happening in the Realms also. As far as Jedi, give me a swordmage with a sunblade and he wouldn't be a shock in Sigil. Skrull? I think an extra-planar race of dopplegangers invading Athas works just fine. Any of your ideas work and actually fit with the settings you suggested, you just have to reflavor them. Just like you have to reflavor the warforged for the Realms.
Hollower, play and have fun. As a fellow warforged player, I've yet to run into anyone at an actual table that even grumbled about my character, let alone an actual problem. If you do run into a particularly stubborn grognard, just roll with it or talk to your coordinator if they become a problem.
1) Golems (and a Warforged is just a rather complicated Golem) are created by summoning and binding a minor elemental spirit into the creation. Elemental spirits are pretty 'wild', and if the MU dies and the creation somehow manages to regain control of it's faculties, what you have there is a force of nature trapped inside a mechanical body - a Barbarian Warforged.
2) The Thayan Wizard had a Pit Fighter he was VERY fond of, mostly because he usually won a lot of money for the Wizard (and Lord knows components aren't cheap). The Pit-Fughter finally gets killed in a horrific three-on-one match set-up by a jealous and more powerful wizard. However, his 'master' isn't content to just let him die... oh no...
He summons his spirit and binds him into a custom-made Helmed Horror, creating an even 'more perfect' fighting machine, by combining the strength of metal with the skills of a seasoned fighter. However, the fighter's mind can't handle the transformation into what amounts to an undead machine, and 'snaps', making him prone to 'fits of rage' - the very first of which (upon waking up) causes him to kill his master and flee into the night.
-I disagree. A Jedi isn't a Swordmage with a Sunblade, or a Brilliant Energy weapon. A Jedi is a Jedi, and a Swordmage with a Sunblade, or a Brilliant Energy weapon is a Swordmage with a Sunblade, or a Brilliant Energy weapon. The two are two separate objective concepts- which is why Warforged don't fit in the Forgotten Realms, but Blood Forge Golems, or Imaskari War Machines, or whatever else do.
I don't think we're actually in disagreement, Karsus. That's my point exactly.
Warforged are included in the Realms now and WotC has stated that while they share the same statistics, they are not the same race. They don't have a common origin and the player is encouraged to be creative in coming up with a backstory of how their particular "warforged" came to be.
The Jedi/Swordmage example is another attempt at re-flavoring. You can either use the rules to suppor the flavor (ie, use a swordmage to make something that feels like a Jedi) or use the flavor to support the rules (use an Imaskari War Machine background for your warforged.) If someone released rules for Jedi in 4E, you could easily include them in any game by reflavoring them as psionic warriors with radiant weapons.
Too many complainers on the board seem to have the opinion that if it uses the warforged write-up, then by-god it's a warforged and it don't belong in my Realms! I'm not saying everything should be available everywhere, but WotC is taking a more homogenous approach and once these things become legal options, everyone should recognize this and try to make it work. The players of said concepts should try to flavor them to fit them in better and the naysayers should be willing to be flexible to new ideas and not drive away fellow gamers with outdated dogma.
I think too many people are stuck in previous mindsets. Sure, Eberron specific warforged do not belong in the Realms. The race as given, with appropriate flavor, fits just fine in a world where Gond once walked, where shield guardians exist alongside this new-fangled spell plague, and where planar travel is not only possible, but eventually probable or even inevitable. There's even a Dragon article to help players explain how their Realmsian warforged came to exist.
Most of the people that object never liked Eberron or the concept of warforged to begin with. Frankly, I'm of the "you got your chocolate in my peanut butter" mentality and find the new flavor to be great.
Actually I hate them mechanically. I don't like their racial abilities at all, especially their ability to remain standing on negative hit points and I've never liked the concept. They are fighting an uphill battle from the start with me.
If I was playing in Eberron I wouldn't really be bothered by them much as they are an integral part of the setting. Otherwise I take no interest in them, especially the mechanical problems they can present in combination with certain classes (and Barbarian specifically).
In any event, a Warforged with a completely unique explanation to its creation and sentience would be the most preferred option for me. If someone put that sort of work into it and how it came to be and such, I would be unlikely to turn them down.
I do have to admit, it seems like they are marrying all of the signature races from the popular realms into one collection.
Draconians = Dragonborn
Warforged
Drow as a main race
Wonder if Athas will get Half-Giants or Muls spread through out the ethos of D&D.
So....... no comments on either of my concepts?
Last time I try and be a little creative...
FR does have half-giants...
-And Thrii-Kreen.
They are such a good fit for the Oriental Realms, but I wanted to save them for a time whenever we got around to Zakhara (about 30 years from now, I figure :D ).
We need a desert in the east... perhaps I can use the Quoya...
